The Care Inspectorate has today published a statistical bulletin on complaints about care services in Scotland.
The report covers complaints received and investigated between April 2019 and March 2025. The report focusses on the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
It reflects how the Care Inspectorate actioned every complaint received using a risk-based assessment process to resolve complaints as quickly as possible for complainants.
In total, the Care Inspectorate received 5,303 complaints in 2024/25, a 6% decrease on last year, the lowest for four years.
The majority of this decrease is due to fewer complaints about care homes.
All complaints received were assessed to ensure they are within the remit of the Care Inspectorate to investigate, to ensure sufficient information is available and to ensure that the complainant wishes to proceed. If this was not the case, complaints were revoked.
In 2024/25, 23% of complaints received were revoked, an increase from 22% in 2023/24.
A total of 4,055 complaints were resolved using one of four resolution pathways.
In 46% of these, complaint information given to the inspector for that service to be used to inform and focus future scrutiny activity; 18% were resolved quickly by the care service directly; 14% required the service to investigate via their own complaints procedure; 22% were deemed high risk and were investigated by the Care Inspectorate.
In complaints where the Care Inspectorate conducted an investigation in 2024/25, 70% were upheld.
As reported in previous years, the Care Inspectorate continues to receive and uphold more complaints about care homes for older people than for any other type of service – 69% of care homes for older people received at least one complaint, while 27% had at least one complaint upheld during 2024/25.
As with previous years, specific healthcare issues such as nutrition, medication, hydration, tissue viability, continence care and inadequate care and treatment were the most frequent types of complaints upheld about care homes for older people during 2024/25.
Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “Complaints give a valuable insight into how services are caring for the thousands of people who experience them every day. We realise that, for many people, making a complaint to us can be a big step and indicates that there is something not right that really matters to them.
“We look carefully at all the information we receive from all complaints and decide the best way to proceed. Where we do investigate formally, the purpose is not just to establish the facts and determine whether the care provided was good enough, but also to seek to improve the quality of care provided for the person making the complaint and other people experiencing care.
“A key part of our role is to work with services and providers collaboratively to support improvement. It is essential that our investigations lead to meaningful change and improvements that provide positive outcomes for people experiencing care.
“Anyone with a complaint about a care service can contact us on 0345 600 9527."
The bulletin is available here.